1. Field of Technology
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for printing a receipt to print paper and cutting the receipt from the print paper in response to print data received from a computer with the print data including transaction information print data generated e.g. by a POS (point-of-sale) application running on a host computer with a paper cut command contained in the print data, and additional information print data that is added to the transaction information print data, and relates further to a POS system and a control method.0
2. Description of Related Art
Additional information, e.g. advertising information such as product advertisements and event announcements, is commonly added to and printed in addition to transaction information relating to purchased products and their purchase price information on customer receipts in supermarkets and other retailers as well as in fast food stores and other restaurants. A POS system is generally used for generating such print data and printing such receipts. This additional information is not limited to advertising information. More recent systems can also print sales promotion information such as coupons and lottery tickets, and the printed receipts are therefore also effective as a sales promotion means for product manufacturers and retailers. Hence, “additional information”, as the term is used herein, means any information other than the transaction information that may be printed on a receipt.
Such POS systems typically have a plurality of POS terminal computers connected to a central POS server, and an information-provider server for providing the additional information. The POS terminal computers (host computers) generate the transaction information and have access to a product master, which is a product information database. To process a transaction, the POS terminal computer sends the input data (product codes) acquired by scanning the barcodes on the products purchased by the customer to the POS server. The POS server retrieves and returns the product name, price, and other product information relating to the input data from the product master stored on the POS server to the POS terminal computer. The POS terminal computer then uses this product information to generate the transaction information. The POS terminal computer also sends the input data to the information-provider server to extract and generate the additional information related to the input data from the information-provider server. The POS terminal computer then merges the transaction information and additional information to produce the print data, and sends the print data to an attached printing apparatus to print a receipt containing the additional information. See, for example, FIG. 2 of Japanese Published Patent Application 2003-500767(A).
The operating system (OS) in most POS terminal computers used in retail stores and restaurants as described above is still a disk operating system (DOS). With a DOS, the POS application typically sends print data and print commands directly to the printing apparatus without going through a printer driver. This means that in order to add new functionality, such as printing additional information on receipts, to the POS system, the POS application itself must be modified. Especially, for the DOS, modifying the POS application itself is a complicated and expensive process. POS system users (businesses) therefore strongly desire to be able to add new functions to existing POS systems with little or no modification of the POS application itself.
The present invention solves the foregoing problem by providing a printing apparatus capable of efficiently printing a receipt in response to print data received from a host computer running on a POS application with the print data including first print data representing transaction information and second print data representing additional information and then cutting the receipt at an appropriate position determined by the print data, without changing the POS application.